5 things you must do if you want to finish writing that book

If you’ve ever tried to finish a book and not managed to reach the finish line, you are NOT alone. The truth is that a LOT of people want to be the next amazing author, but not many people actually do it.

To put things into perspective, I recently saw a statistic that scared the CRAP out of me. Roughly 3% of authors who intend to write their novels actually FINISH their books. I found another statistic from Nanowrimo, which is National Novel Writing Month. It stated that about 9% of participants managed to finish their books during that month and I’m sure less than 1% of those people will actually edit their books and self-publish or try to get a publisher.

Whew! Those numbers don’t look good. BUT WHY is it like that? Why is it so hard for the average person to start and finish their book?

I’ve worked with many aspiring writers and pretty much all of them struggled with what I like to call The Incomplete Book Loop. The Incomplete Book Loop is something all aspiring authors tend to experience and it goes a little like this:

Yay! I have a great idea for a book!
I’m gonna go think about it and talk about it a bunch!
Ah! I need some resources! Let me go check them out!
Oh! Maybe I need to read a book about writing! Maybe take a class! Oh man maybe I should read my favourite author for inspiration!

OH I HAVE ANOTHER GREAT IDEA!

Seem familiar? YEAH. It happens a lot. So what can you DO about it? Here are 5 things you MUST do if you want to actually finish your book.

1. Stop telling EVERYONE about your book and just find your writing guide.

I GET IT.

You get TOTALLY excited and want to tell everyone about your new idea for your book.

This goes well….as long as people as everyone you talk to is totally jazzed about it. If not, you’ll find that your enthusiasm for the project starts to wane. That great idea feels less and less great and your motivation to work on it…well that goes away too.

While it’s important to have someone to brainstorm with and validate your ideas, you need to work with someone who actually KNOWS what they are talking about and knows what’s best for your writing. That’s not your husband or mum, even though they are both AWESOME. You want to hire someone who will be SUPER excited about your project and can give you advice that will actually STRENGTHEN your project and not hold you back.

2. Get some accountability (preferably the kind you pay for)

Most of us are more motivated to get stuff done if we are held accountable by someone. The thought of telling someone we didn’t achieve what we said we would, appears to be the kick in the pants most of us need to act. The best accountability is usually that which you pay for. People who pay, pay attention. If you’re all paying to be part of a community you’re all likely to be more invested in everyone’s success.

3. Get organised

If you sit down to write and have no structure you probably won’t get very far. The vastness of the task will quickly become overwhelming. If you are organised and divide your target word count into sessions. After you have plotted everything out and created a strong structure, writing will be so much easier.

4. Go on a knowledge fast

Don’t take in anything unnecessary. Sure you can do extra research if it is relevant to your book, but don’t stray off track. Don’t sign up for book writing training, sit through webinars or anything else that confuses the issue and takes you away from the task of actually writing.

5. Develop a ritual that will keep you moving forward

Turning your writing into a ritual will help you be more consistent. We can easily get into the grove of a habit and if you create a ritual, for example, maybe you write for an hour every morning with a cup of coffee before going to exercise, you’re more likely to move forward.

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If you do those 5 things you WILL finish your book. It’s a process I’ve gone through myself when I wrote my book in just 90 days. By following my process and working with me personally you can finish your book too. Sure, you can do all of this alone BUT if you’re really serious about writing this book, you can’t keep moving forward the way you’ve done things before.

You must try something different if you want to stop the Incomplete Book Loop.

Need help? I have a programme for women like you who want to finally write and publish their book. The exact step by step system I used to write and publish my own book in just 90 days. I can show you how to do it too. Check out the details here.

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